Random August Photos

I'm getting used to cramming all of my photos into one post now, but that just adds to the randomness of this post. I have a few non-road trip related photos that I haven't shared yet. These are all iPhone photos, so excuse the quality.

I took this first one at Wing Stop. We went there for dinner after church. Alex got the 20 wing combo. I texted this photo to Anthony and told him Alex got the 20 wings and he texted back "I am so proud."

The big boys are both wing fans and especially HOT wing fans--Eric...not so much. Alex tried so hard to convince him they were just like chicken nuggets, but Eric did not eat well at all. I have to admit that I'm a wing fan but not a boneless wing fan. I hate all of that breading. Patrick wasn't a big fan of the breading either. Natalie enjoyed hers.

This is the only picture that Anthony has sent from college so far, even though I asked him directly if he could get a friend to take a picture of him in front of the frat house where he'll be living this school year. He texted this photo to Patrick and me, saying that he added his own touch to his room decor--an "Exit" sign above his third floor window. Nice.

Anthony has been spending a lot of time cleaning. They installed a sprinkler system in the house this summer. Apparently they didn't start when they were supposed to, meaning that they weren't done when they were supposed to. They also left a big mess. That sounds like a lot of renovation stories, doesn't it?

He seems happy with his classes, and he seems very happy spending time with his friends. We already sent him a care package with some of his favorite things--Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars (a recipe I got from a friend), Pringles Cheddar Cheese, Heath Bars, and his favorite sweatshirt that he left behind at home.

I had to share this photo because Natalie and Eric are actually getting along and they actually look like they are having fun. What happened was that I walked into the game room one morning, and found Eric reading to Natalie with Natalie's head in his lap. What a sweet sight! Natalie started adjusting her long hair, and it ended up getting all over Eric. That's what started the giggling.

Eric doesn't like this picture at all. I flipped Natalie's hair onto his head. (That's Natalie's head behind Eric's head.) Natalie thought he looked so cute like that. She had me text her this photo, and every time she brought out the photo to show to someone, Eric would tell her how he didn't like that photo. He does look super-adorable, though.

Eric is still very dinosaur-obsessed. He reads one of his dinosaur books almost daily. None of them are beginning reader-type books, so he can spend a lot of time reading the same book. One day, Patrick told me to go upstairs to the game room to take a picture of Eric. When I got up there, he showed me this "life-size" picture of a T. Rex jaw. He thought it was cool that the T. Rex jaw was as big as he was tall!

The week before school, we made a trip to our local Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Alex met up with a few of his friends, and they roamed the park on their own. The rest of us went together, including Natalie's friend Allison. Natalie hates it when I take pictures of her, so I thought this picture was great in that I got a photo of Eric and me plus Natalie unaware of having her picture taken.

Eric was disappointed that he couldn't go on any of the big roller coasters, because he was just a little too short. He went on the Kiddie Coaster instead with Patrick, and he loved it. He didn't really think it was a real coaster, though, because it they didn't get to go upside down. I have a feeling that he will be riding the big coasters as soon as he is big enough. Patrick will have to ride with him because I don't like any roller coasters!

Patrick decided to clean out the hall closet during the week before school started. There was a lot of stuff in there, ranging from old coats to old soccer balls to old school stuff. I'm so glad that he does this sort of purging once in a while, because I am a total pack rat. I gave away some of Natalie's old (like size 4/5) jackets to one of the residents who has a four-year-old daughter.

I need to take a picture of the new and improved closet now that there is actually space to put their school things after they get home from school (instead of on the living room floor).

Natalie's friend Allison invited her to go with her and her family to camp out at the beach. This was Natalie's first camping trip ever. Allison's dad Brian texted this photo to Patrick. They certainly seemed to be having fun. When they dropped Natalie off the next day, however, he said they had the worst night they've ever had there. Usually there is a nice breeze coming from the water, but on that night there was no breeze plus it was super-humid. It was so humid that there was condensation inside in the tent. Some of that fell on Natalie and she thought it was raining.

I think she had fun overall, but I don't see her going on another camping trip any time soon. I'm definitely not a camper either. I don't mind being outside and being active, but at night, I want to sleep in a comfy bed with air conditioning!

Last, but not least, I wanted to share this photo of Eric with his completed Lego Chima Saber-Tooth Tiger. He built this all by himself and he looks rather proud. He had me take another picture of the tiger with its mouth open, showing those fierce teeth.

This month, I'll try to post my random September photos while it's actually still September.

The Grandkids

This will probably be the last blog post on the big anniversary party in August, but not the last post about the trip. These are mostly action shots of the kids having fun at the party. The grandkids mingled with the other guests a little, but really, they stuck to each other for the most part.

Teagan and Braeden are such beautiful children, aren't they? I love this first photo mostly because of their beautiful smiles. Braeden didn't sit still for very long, so this was a photo of him sitting still.

Even though there weren't assigned seats, the grandkids all sat next to each other. I didn't ask them to smile or anything, so I had to laugh when Eric got his big "cheese" smile ready for the camera. Later in the evening, he was tired enough that he couldn't even smile anymore.

Ignore the uneven lighting in this photo. I'm still not very good at using my external flash and controlling the direction and brightness of it. I caught these three smiling so nicely for me, and I wasn't successful with getting another nice photo of them. Natalie enjoyed having some girls to hang around with after being trapped in a car with her father and brothers for four days.

Kids just flock to Anthony--they love him and he loves them. I've always loved that about Anthony. He's good with kids, just like his father.

Notice the barefoot girls dancing. They assured me that their shoes weren't uncomfortable, but that they just wanted to be barefoot. They were certainly more able to run around without those pesky dress shoes.

Braeden loved hanging on his older siblings. Considering how much older they are than him, they are really great with him. Teagan seemed to be his favorite.

Braeden also liked being with Griffin. Griffin is Braeden's only brother, after all. Their age difference is similar to the one between Anthony and Eric, so I can see these two playing around like Anthony and Eric in the future.

Speaking of Anthony and Eric, this is how they play with each other sometimes. At one point, Anthony started hugging Eric, realizing that he would be leaving him behind and going back to school on the Monday after this party on Saturday. He couldn't leave it at that, though. He ended up spinning around while still hugging Eric.

Eric seems to enjoy small children, too, even when they're not really that much smaller than he is, since he's a little guy anyway. Braeden also seemed to enjoy having someone around that was just a little bit bigger than him. Eric is a hugger too, so he often tried to hug Braeden and Braeden sometimes hugged back.

I don't have too much to say today. This was mostly an opportunity to share some photos.

Grandma and Grandpa's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party

Warning--this will be a very picture-heavy post! I've made the photos smaller for this page so they will load faster for those of you with slower internet. You can click on the individual photos to make them bigger if you want a closer look.

These will be several posed shots that I took at Patrick's mom and dad's (Angie and Ernie) 50th Wedding Anniversary Party held on Saturday, August 9, 2014 at the Milwaukee Athletic Club. Patrick's sister Lisa was the party planner and she did a super fabulous job. First of all, the Milwaukee Athletic Club was where her mom and dad had their wedding reception. Since it's a members-only club, she had to find someone with reciprocal membership. Just the fact that she had that idea and got it done shows how super detail oriented she is. Patrick and I were just happy to foot part of the bill. Thanks, Lisa!!!

This first photo is obviously my very handsome youngest son. Patrick bought him a suit similar to his own. Once Eric had it on, he seemed very comfortable in it, not asking to remove his jacket or shoes at any time. I'll have more photos of him running around with the other kids in a separate post.

This is my favorite picture of the three boys together. Eric enjoyed hamming it up for the camera, but only at times. Other times he wanted to stay away from the pictures. A lot of people were snapping photos with cameras and phones. It actually got a little bit funny at times. I also took some video because it was more interesting to see him run around all over the place.

Here is Patrick's sister Linda with her son Joe. We hadn't seen Joe in a few years and we were astounded at how much he has grown and changed. He is now a high school senior planning for his future and certainly seems to have things under control. He's hoping to get a tennis scholarship, and we're hoping he gets it. He graduates at the beginning of May next year, so hopefully at least Patrick will be able to attend. The other kids will still be in school, so unfortunately, it's unlikely that the whole family will be able to go.

This is Patrick's sister Lisa and her husband Derek with their kids. Griffin is the oldest at 12 years old, then Teagan is 10 years old. Sydney is 8 years old, and then last but definitely not least, Braeden is two years old. He also seemed to enjoy his spiffy duds, and was running around constantly, sometimes running after Eric. Gorgeous family, don't you think?

This is Patrick's Aunt Margaret with his mom Angie. Margaret is the widow of Patrick's paternal uncle, so she has been part of the family for many, many years. Four of her five children also attended--Connie, Danny Jr., Larry, and Mary Kay.

I had to take one picture of the table with the guest book and the wedding photos that Lisa picked out and placed as part of the display. Linda purposely turned the album to a photo of her parents kissing before I took the photo because she loved looking at it.

This is Patrick's dad Ernie and mom Angie with his maternal uncle's first wife Karen. She has three daughters, Cindy, Chris, and Cheri. Only Cindy was able to make it, but we've spent time with all of them in the past when we've visited Milwaukee. Interestingly, amongst the three of them, they have a total of seven sons--no daughters.

This is Cindy with her husband Don and Dad Patrick with Angie. Patrick is Angie's only brother and surviving family member after her sister died earlier this year. Cindy and Don have two boys that are just a little bit older than Anthony and Alex. I love spending time with Cindy and her family. They are just wonderful people.

This is Ernie with two of his longtime friends. Patrick wasn't sure but he thought they'd known each other since high school. Since he turned 79 this year, that was a long time ago.

This is another photo of Ernie with his longtime friends and spouses.

Ernie and Angie share a kiss. After Lisa's wonderful speech, people tapped their glasses, just like at a wedding when people want to see the bride and groom kiss. Lisa shared a story that I hadn't heard before, about how Ernie and Angie used to have "dates" at home where the kids wouldn't be allowed to disturb them while they were having dinner together--just the two of them. How sweet was that?

This is, from left to right, Angie, Ernie, Ernie's sister Mary, and Margaret. Aunt Mary was there with two of her daughters, Theresa and Mary Pat. Mary Pat also brought her daughter Elizabeth. Ernie's sister Jean had planned to go also, but her plans changed at the last minute when her daughter-in-law died suddenly. There was a separate blog post earlier about Patrick going through the Dallas area on the way home to visit Jean and her husband Dave.

This is a photo of basically all the family that came from Ernie's side. His side is definitely much larger than Angie's side. The young girl standing on the far right is Mary Pat's daughter, Elizabeth. Mary Pat is seated on the far right. Elizabeth is starting her sophomore year at Duke University. She is majoring in Computer Science and is fluent in Chinese. We were quite impressed with her, both because she was super smart, and also because she was so attentive to her grandmother Mary.

Because we had a photo of the female cousins together, so Patrick got in a picture with his male cousins, Danny Jr. on the left, and Larry on the right. These two are Margaret's sons. Natalie actually photo-bombed one of these photos, but I didn't include that one.

This is a photo of all of the cousins together. We were sad that Patrick's brother Geoff couldn't make it from Alaska. We tried to make it happen, but it just wasn't to be.

One thing I have to mention is that Mary Kay is the one sitting next to Lisa on the right. She made the extra effort to come to see us, and we are so thankful that we got to see her again. Unfortunately, she passed away this past Saturday. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.

If Angie looks a little awkward in this photo, it's because the stand for the cake was super high. I could barely get a good photo. The cake was beautiful and just shows what a great job Lisa did in ordering it.

These last two photos are just two of my favorites, so I thought I would post them here. Natalie likes to announce that she is her father's "favorite daughter". Patrick has to agree. I love seeing the two of them together and getting along. :) Notice also that Natalie is barefoot. Although she wore flat sandals to the party, but decided that she wanted to be barefoot during the party. I'm happy that she wore a dress to flatter her figure, so in the interest of peace, we decided to let her go barefoot.

I really love this photo, because Natalie has always had a special relationship with Anthony. There's a lot of respect and love there, and he tends to be a little kinder to her than Alex. He also seems to be sensitive to her growing up. When I tell him about things that indicate that she is growing up, he'll insist that she is not growing up. I also love that Natalie is smiling just a little here. She is so much more beautiful when she smiles, even when she was a baby.

Sorry for the long post! I hope it wasn't too boring. I purposely left out last names and such, since this is posted publicly on the web. I still have more photos from the party and then from the road trip, so look for those in the next week or so.

Cousins

We're going to be talking in the third person today again, since Patrick and Melanie are both posting. Patrick did say, "Some of these posts are going to be somewhat picture heavy because I know nobody wants to hear what I have to say."

We were THRILLED to be able to spend time not only with Lisa and her kids, but also with Patrick's sister Linda and nephew Joe. We all live so spread out now that it is difficult for us all to get together.

It goes without saying that youngest of the bunch, Braeden, was quite the star. Soon enough he won't want to match Derek's clothes, but right now, he is all for it.

Let's face it, we all know who the boss is in this picture. Teagan is 10 years old (left), Griffin is 12 years old (right), and of course Braeden is in the middle (2 years old). Braeden loves his older siblings very much and is always looking for them, even when they're not around.

Melanie was trying to get a picture of 8 year old Sidney with Natalie, and Anthony kept trying to photobomb them. The girls looked very distracted in several of the photos because of him, so finally, Melanie allowed one photo with Anthony in it. The girls loved it!

Speaking of girls loving Anthony, when Melanie first got to the condo after Patrick had picked her up at the airport, they noticed Anthony with a young girl (4 years old) hanging on Anthony's leg. Apparently there were two 4 year old twins that took a liking to him, and showed their attachment by attaching themselves to his leg. Younger kids have always loved Anthony.

This is a picture on the pontoon boat with the girls. Natalie spent the entire car trip surrounded by boys so she was happy to actually be with girls for a while. She spent a lot of time with these two during our stay.

The cousins apparently have this thing where they pile up on each other, usually Griffin since he is the oldest and biggest. Braeden usually plops himself on the very top. They decided to do this at the condo. Griffin can't be seen in this picture, he is buried by siblings and cousins. Eric's big smile shows how much fun he was having.

We got all of the kids to stay still for a bit on one of the piers by the beach. Linda's son Joe is the one that is the farthest on the left. He has gotten much taller since the last time we saw him. He's a senior in high school this year, and hoping to get a tennis scholarship for college. He has grown up to be such a wonderful young man, and we're praying that he can get that scholarship to a school that he wants to go to. Patrick will probably be the only one to be able to go to his graduation, unfortunately, since he graduates at the beginning of May, and the kids will all still be in school.

A cozy group in the living room at Grandma and Grandpa's. This was the night we all had pizza for dinner together. It is hard to describe how wonderful it really was to get everyone together. With my nephew Joe entering his senior year, Anthony in college, and Alex in his sophomore year of high school it is particularly hard to make plans that allow us all to get together. This year we had a great excuse to make it happen. More about the wedding anniversary party in a later post.

Pewaukee Lake

This is another tag-team blog post from both Patrick and Melanie.

After a long road trip for the kids and Patrick, and a long travel day for Melanie, we all finally arrived at Pewaukee Lake. We stayed in a nice hotel five minutes away from Grandma and Grandpa's condominium, but we all congregated at the condo. Their place has a beautiful view of a public beach on Pewaukee Lake. This picture was taken from their balcony on the second floor (technically the third floor with a ground floor included).

The first day was a great time for Natalie and Anthony to get reacquainted with their new cousins as well as Aunt Lisa and Uncle Derek. Eric and Alex met their cousins and Derek for the first time. Natalie was able to go to Lisa and Derek's wedding a few years ago with Patrick, but Melanie stayed at home with the older boys, since they couldn't miss school and team events. Eric was still young enough to make the trip difficult, so he stayed home also. Anthony has spent lots more time with Lisa, Derek, and the rest of their family than any of us because he goes to college about 20 minutes from where they live.

The kids mostly enjoyed the beach, but when it was time to go in, there weren't a lot of toys around. Natalie actually started playing with Lisa's old Barbie dolls with her younger girl cousins. Melanie had to take a picture, of course.

There was also a daily trip to the local ice cream shop. As you can see in this picture, there was a two-lane road next to the condo, with a shopping area on the other side of the street. The Chocolate Factory was the name of the ice cream shop in that shopping area. It was nice to see the cousins all walking together, getting along with each other like they were the best of friends.

The Chocolate Factory sells their delicious ice cream by weight. Melanie decided to spoil her step-nieces and nephew by buying them the fancy cones one day. It was a little weird to wait until the order was completely done (and so they can get an accurate total weight) when we had such a large order, but that's they way they did things. We all thought it would be awful to watch ice cream melting instead of being able to eat it right away.

We were thrilled that everyone got along so well. Maybe it was the ice cream? Certainly, we all had a love for ice cream in common with each other.

One of the nicest things about Grandma and Grandpa's place on the lake is the events they have at the beach. During the summer there is live music on Wednesday evenings and on Thursdays a fantastic Water Ski Show put on by the Pewaukee Lake Water Ski Club. Their show was a wonderful beginning to a great weekend celebration.

All of us went down to the dock area to watch the water skiers go by, so Melanie was able to get a few good pictures. We were close enough that some of the water skiers hopped onto the dock where we were standing to get out of the water after their event.

Tomorrow, I'll try to share some more photos of the kids with their cousins.

Back to School Chaos and Saber Tooth Tigers

This is a picture I snapped yesterday of Eric doing his daily reading and Natalie doing her homework. Eric is supposed to read for 30 minutes a day. He usually doesn't have any problems with this as he is an avid reader, especially when the book is about dinosaurs. In fact, the book he is reading in this photo is about dinosaurs.

This week has been so hectic. The kids have had to get up earlier, of course, which means Patrick has to get up earlier also. I get up at my usual early 4:45am (OUCH), but in the afternoon, I can't go straight home like I've been doing all summer. I again have to wait for Alex to get out of school before I can go home. Yesterday, I was in a late case, so I didn't even pick up Alex until about 5:30pm. I am definitely exhausted, and today was only my third working day this week!

Natalie went to swim practice on Tuesday and did pretty well. She even did the dry land exercises, but admitted that the running did make her hurt. She didn't go to swim practice last night because she got her period and was crampy. She is back at it again tonight but she was hurting when she pushed off with the right foot. We're still hoping for a full recovery from her back injury, but we're still not sure how long that will take.

This past weekend, Eric watched a documentary on saber-tooth tigers. Now he says that his favorite "cat" is the saber-tooth tiger. When I wanted to take a picture of him this past Saturday, this is what he did for me. He is pretending to be a saber-tooth tiger, of course--a saber-tooth tiger wearing a minion shirt. :)

We were at Target on Sunday, and he wanted to buy a Lego Chima set called "Sir Fangar's Saber-Tooth Walker". The set includes a saber-tooth tiger shaped machine thingy, so of course he wanted it. The sale retailed for $39.99 at Target, but as is my usual routine, I looked up how much it was going to cost at Amazon. The price there was $34.97.

The Lego set was $5 cheaper at Amazon. He kept saying things that implied that he thought the toy was only $5 at Amazon, so of course he opted to buy it from Amazon and wait for it to be delivered instead of buying it right then and there.

I was glad that he should some maturity with being able to wait to get a toy instead of buying it right on the spot. He eventually understood that he had to pay me $35 so I could buy the toy for him. (I let him have the tax mostly because I didn't feel like figuring the price out with tax.) He's been receiving an allowance for a year and a half and has hardly spent any of it, so he could well afford the price.

We received the Lego set two days later, which was on Tuesday. This is a picture of Eric with his new toy. He was all smiles when he saw it. Of course I made him practice piano and do his reading first. He was only able to complete the little pieces that are in the picture in front of him that night, but today he said that he is almost done with it. I'll have to take a picture when he completes the building.

So, life has been a little busy this week, but the kids still have time for a little fun--like building Lego toys. On Monday, Alex even watched a little of the Emmy Awards with me. Next week will be even busier, however. Eric starts gymnastics next Wednesday. Alex starts cross-country practice at 6am on Monday. Natalie starts extra Honors Band practices on Thursday morning at 7am. It's a good thing I have a long weekend to rest up before next week!